Difference Between Water Buffalo and Buffalo

Water Buffalo vs Buffalo
 

It might sound a little silly to perform a comparison about water buffalo and buffalo for many people including some biologists, as well. That is mainly due to the lack of awareness among many people about the factual meaning of those names. That is mainly because, water buffalo is commonly meant by referring only the term buffalo. There is nothing wrong with that, but an understanding about the real difference between buffalo and water buffalo is essential before proceeding up to that level. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to go through the presented information about water buffalo and buffalo in this article. Since there are many types of buffalos, here the term buffalo refers to all types of buffalos.

Water Buffalo

Water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, is also known as the Domestic Asian water buffalo. Water buffalo is a domesticated animal from its ancestor, wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee). It is one of the largest bovines among livestock animals and is being used for draft, meat, and milk. In addition, their dung is of tremendous value as an organic fertilizer and sometimes as a fuel after drying. Water buffalo weighs between 400 and 900 kilograms, and their three metres long body could measure up to two metres in height. However, their females are considerably smaller than males. They have long and characteristically curved horns. Water buffalos are greyish black in colour and are distributed all over the world. These ruminants have wide splayed hoofed feet, which are useful to prevent from being sunk deep when they inhabit muddy swamps. Inhabiting around mud is very important for them during the daytime to cool their bodies. However, water buffalos have been friends of man for a long time, and their highly nutritious milk has been a main reason for that.

Buffalo

Buffalo is an important member among the bovines with a black colour cattle-like appearance. Usually, the term buffalo refers to the domestic buffalo or the water buffalo, despite there are few other referred species including Cape buffalo and Eurasian buffalo. However, there are different types of water buffalos raised for milk, meat, and work purposes. Usually, all the types are black in colour and larger in physique compared to other cattle species. There are distinct types of coats according to the climatic conditions that they live; a long coat in temperate climates and short fur in tropical climates. Usually, most of the buffalos have horns, but shapes and sizes vary according to the species. Cape buffalo has its own characteristically shaped thick horn with special downward and upward curves, while Wild Asian buffalo has slender horns with an upward curve. One important observation about them is the absence of the sweat glands on their skin, which makes them have more heat inside their bodies. Therefore, they prefer to stay around water during the daytime. In addition, they put mud on their body, so that their bodies would be cooled. Usually, the swamp buffalos are raised for both meat and work purposes, as they are very strong, whereas the river buffalos are raised for milk purposes. However, the term buffalo is colloquially used to mention the American bison in North America.